ultra life red slime remover

[anthonyjmorale]

hey guys.not sure of im posting this in the right place if not sorry. i was having some serious issues with black slime all over the crushed coral in my tank. the guy at the LFS suggested ultralife red slime remover. he also said that i probably need circulating pumps to officially cure the problem since i only have one powerhead moving the water in my tank. I put the red slime remover in and it seems to be working. its been about 24 hours now. the only thing that's concerns me is that the water is kinda fizzling like i put alka selter in it.mostly at the outlet for the protein skimmer. is this normal?

I also think i had my lights on way to long and that was contributing to the problem.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I also suggest replacing your crushed coral with aragonite sand. The crushed coral tends to trap uneaten food in it causing high nitrates.

Also, it has been observed that each time you use red slime remover, the red slime algae will eventually build up a tolerance to it. Think of it like these "super bugs" that aren't getting killed by the antibiotics like penicillin.

What are your water parameters also?

Are you using RO/DI water or just tap? It you are using tap water, you will be constantly fighting algae in your tank since many cities have contaminants in the tap water like phosphates and nitrates that will feed the algae.

 

[anthonyjmorale]

ph 8.0
ammonia .24 ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm

im using tap water. i really wish i hadn't used the crushed coral after reading on these forums the last few days. i just thought it was easy to clean the coral

i don't have much in the tank. about 20 pounds of live rock and just an arrow crab. some clams that hitchhiked on the live rock.. unfortunately i got laid off as i was setting the tank up.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I would double check those results.

Having any amount of ammonia in your tank is toxic. Are you still cycling the tank? How long has it been set up?

Sorry to hear about your job situation. I know it is hard, I have been there. It seems my tank has been stuck in limbo for the past few years because of the job market also.

Try to find some local reefers. Make trades. You can still enjoy the hobby on a budget. Just don't skimp on some of the equipment. It is usually better to save up for a quality piece of equipment than it is to constantly replace crappy stuff.

 

[anthonyjmorale]

tanks been up for 6 months i usually get 0 on everything.ill test again in a few hours. this was yesterdays result

 

[over my head]

i had the same problem. i just got back to doing regular water changes and it went away

 

[RockStacker]

Your tap water might have chloramine which is getting picked up by the ammonia test kit.
Chloramines are bad news for fish and other reef critters, and they are not as easily removed from the water compared to regular chlorine.

Run an ammonia test on your tap water and see if it registers anything on the test. You should also be able to get a water quality report from your water company.
In any case it might be cheaper to buy RO/DI water from a pet/fish store. Using ammonia/chloramine detox and algae killer stuff on your water will end up being more expensive.

An RO/DI kit would be an excellent investment, but the up-front cost is no chump change (ranges from $100.00 to $300.00 depending on the setup).

 

[little_fish]

I would switch to using RO/DI water anyways, the stuff in tap water will feed cyano and make the issue worse.